How Often Should you Sealcoat Your Parking Lot?
From churches, to small business owners, to large property management facilities, the one thing they all have in common is an asphalt parking lot. Proper maintenance of all-weather surfaces with sealcoating provides many benefits to these organizations and businesses:
• Maintain the existing pavement in its present condition by delaying or eliminating further aging due to water, oil spills, and sun
• Change the texture of the parking lot to be smoother and more uniform in appearance. This enhanced curb appeal is especially beneficial to commercial properties who are competing for traffic and tenants
• Correct pavement problems by waterproofing openness, performing minor leveling, and sealing cracks
• Prolong the life of the parking lot in an economical way
How Often Do You Sealcoat a Parking Lot?
To effectively extend the total service life of the parking lot, it is recommended to seal your lot within a year of it being laid down, and then apply a new sealcoat every two to four years after. This will help prevent potentially expensive repairs in the future.
Two to four years can seem like a big time range, but the most important catalyst for sealcoating your parking lot will be if you can see actual deterioration. If small cracks are present or if the surface color has changed from black to gray, it may be the right time to apply a new layer of sealcoat. In addition, if your lot receives continual heavy traffic, you may need to seal more often than a lot with less traffic.
Even if existing deterioration is not visible, we are happy to provide a sealcoating estimate based on your lot’s condition!
How Do You Sealcoat a Parking Lot?
Now that you know the general timing of how often you should sealcoat a parking lot, let’s look at how the process works. Once we have verified that a sealcoating solution will be effective for your pavement, our team will get to work. If there are any cracks in the pavement, we will have to repair them before the process can begin. Why? No matter what the temperature, moisture in the cracks will cause significant damage to your pavement.
Then, we will apply a liquid coal tar emulsion over the surface of the pavement. The procedure of applying the seal coating and allowing it to dry and cure is usually done within a few mobilizations, depending on the size and layout of your lot. In the Midwest, weather conditions are a major factor to the properly curing of the sealcoat. In general, the ideal type of weather for proper curing occurs in the middle of April through the end of September.
Repairing your parking lot with a new application of sealcoat every two to four years is not only important for safety purposes, it also enhances your property value and the impression you make on the community. You will dramatically extend the life of the asphalt, and greatly reduce the amount of money you would otherwise have to spend on future maintenance costs.
Contact Smooth Paving for any questions or to get started. Interested in an estimate? Simply click here.